Garden Critters

Over the past three weeks, I've spotted a number of interesting creatures in the garden, of the bugs, bees and butterflies variety.

By far the most common during the weeks when the Valerian is blooming is the Virginia Ctenucha Moth.  They rise in clouds when I walk through the garden, and flutters in all directions.  It just looks dark until you get close, and then you can see the dabs of bright orange and blue.

 Though it flutters like a butterfly, you can see by its feathery antennae that it's actually a moth.

If you catch a look at the body under the wings in the right light, the body is bright blue too.

Lots of other insects favour the Valerian, which is one reason (along with its beautiful strong fragrance) that I let it spread through the garden for a few weeks.  Here a bee is searching for nectar.

I swear the Cabbage White butterflies almost never land.  If you've ever chased one, you know they just keep fluttering away.  If they do ever land, it's deep in the grass.  I was lucky to spot exactly where this one landed, and grab my camera before it moved!

There are small skippers (tiny orange/brown butterflies) in the garden too, but there are so many different species, with what seem to me like very small differences, I'm not even going to guess which one this is.

The most interesting butterfly was this Eastern Comma, a species I've only seen once before, here on a Milkweed blossom.

Luckily, I got a shot of the underwing, with its tiny white spot shaped like a comma - I just realized how it got its name!.

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